CARDRONA, New
Zealand (Sept. 8) - U.S. Snowboarding's rookie program took six
of its freestyle athletes to New Zealand where, for the past week, they've
been learning new tricks, hanging out on a glacier and competed in their
first halfpipe World Cup of the season last Sunday.
"It's been really good. Everyone has been riding really well,"
said Matt Ladley (Steamboat Springs, CO) of his experience so far. "We
got to hit some big jumps and I learned a couple of new tricks, so it's
been great."
According to U.S.
Snowboarding Freestyle Development Coach Bud Keene, the group has been
improving on the jumps and is starting to feel at home in the pipe.
"We've been
riding the pipe for a few hours a day, just getting used to the size
and the pitch. We've also been hitting a lot of jumps," Keene said.
"We've just been working on our runs and working on tricks. They've
got a 65 foot tabletop with a 150 foot long landing and everyone's been
hitting it and shining off of it. Matt got his first backside 10 off
of that jump."
Junior World Championships
silver medalist Kaitlyn Farrington (Bellevue, ID), who took sixth in
the World Cup, is stoked on the improvements she's seen in her riding
down under.
"We've just
been riding a lot and I've been working on backside spins off of jumps
and my cab 7s in the pipe," Farrington said. "On jumps I have
improved a lot and I feel really confident in my cab 7s right now."
While the athletes
train in New Zealand, they also competed in the Cardrona World Cup on
Sunday.
"This was a
huge World Cup. The participation was really high - there were 27 nations
and about 150 riders here to compete. It's quite possibly the largest
World Cup that I have attended," Keene said.
According to Ladley,
he's just looking for good conditions and the possibility of going big
in the competition.
"I'm really
hoping it's good weather so that we can have a fast pipe," Ladley
said. "I'd like to do back to back 10s again whether or not it's
in the contest. It would be great if it were in the competition, but
regardless it's something that I just want to get done."
In the meantime
while they waited for Sunday's event, the riders managed to find a day
to explore New Zealand for a bit.
"We went to
the Tasman Sea and then we went to Fox Glacier and went rock jumping,"
Farrington said. "It was really cool, but the sea was very cold!"
The rookie's camp
wraps up Wednesday.
